“Reasonable discussion”: Pentagon denies reports that official threatened Pope Leo

The meeting came after the pope directly addressed the U.S. war in Iran during his State of the World speech in January. In his speech, the pope warned of “escalating tensions” worldwide.

War is back in vogue, and a zeal for war is spreading,” he said.

In the days following, Undersecretary of Defense for Policy Elbridge Colby met with Cardinal Christophe Pierre, the Vatican’s U.S. representative, in a closed-door meeting at the Pentagon, according to reporting from The Free Press. Colby reportedly gave the cardinal a dressing down.

“The United States,” Colby said, “has the military power to do whatever it wants in the world. The Catholic Church had better take its side.”

A separate U.S. official reportedly brought up the fourteenth-century Avignon papacy. This was a time tensions between the French monarchy and the papacy that lead to a seven-decade-long relocation of the papacy from Rome to the French-controlled Avignon.

A Vatican official, speaking to The Free Press, called such a meeting “unprecedented.” The Vatican recently canceled a planned July 4 trip to the U.S.

“The Pope may well never visit the United States under this administration,” a Vatican official reportedly said.

The Pentagon called reports of the meeting “highly exaggerated and distorted,” saying it was “a respectful and reasonable discussion.”

“We have nothing but the highest regard, and welcome continued dialogue with the Holy See,” it said in a statement to Salon.

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The White House also downplayed the controversy, stating that Trump has “a positive relationship with the Vatican” and praising his policies.

“All of President Trump’s foreign policy actions have made the world safer, more stable, and more prosperous,” a statement to Salon read. “The President has done more than any of his predecessors to save lives and resolve global conflicts.”

Earlier this week, Trump shocked the world when he made his most serious threats against Iran, declaring that “a whole civilization will die tonight.” Leo was among the shocked, taking the unprecedented step to urge Americans to “communicate with congressmen” that “we don’t want war; we want peace.”